Just A Little Entry to Brag

I have no class tomorrow! The typhoon that's headed towards us is definitely worse than the last one that I'd mentioned to you. There've actually been three typhoons here. However, one of them didn't really affect Taipei--other than a little rain. The eye hits tomorrow and no one is to go to work or school tomorrow. So while some of you are busy slaving away, I'll be having another lazy day. I love lazy days a little too much when I think of it, but whatever.

Queer Horse Guard Parade

The title is in reference to a shirt I saw. However, I suppose it fits somewhat with yesterday's events. Taiwanese English t-shirts... I can't figure out what to think of them. They use such strange grammar sometimes and mean absolutely nothing. Sometimes, they also don't understand the connotations of the phrases they use. My theory is, some t-shirts can really only be worn in Taiwan. I shudder to think of what would become of a poor innocent girl wearing a t-shirt that says, "Credit Cards Accepted Here" were she in the US.

Well, it's been a while. I know. I've been busy lately; however, there was nothing of note to tell you about. My days mostly consist of homework, class, homework, sleep, and repeat. I try to save money by not going out too frequently. Although a girl can only sit around so much, and so this weekend I went out quite a bit.

Before I get you too excited over the past couple days' events, I figure I'd give you the lowdown on new developments in my everyday life. It always seems like something new is changing. Anyways, it looks like I'm going to be in French club, some service clubs, and yoga! Along with that, I teach English as a volunteer for poor kids in the area. It looks like we'll be breaking up the class of kids, and so I'm hoping to have the older kids. Older kids tend to like me better than younger ones, so I'm hoping that'll work out. I've also been studying some Taiwanese, and I'm currently thinking about what to do my big paper next year on. I might continue with Taiwanese for my research project, but I feel that Hakka is very seldom explored. We'll see.

I think my roommate situation for the semester is finally settled. It's been ridiculously confusing, since when I arrived, I was living with three different teachers. At that time I thought they were permanent, but of course they weren't. The only one that has left no confusion from the start is the Malaysian one. Then a graduate student got confused and began to move into my room. She was really nice to me, so I was sad when I found out she was in the wrong room. However, she told me to come find her so we could hang out some. In her place came an adorable little girl that chatters incessantly. I'm a fan, so it worked out. Then there's the one I referred to as "Mysterious Roommate #3" since I hadn't seen her, but she'd always managed to place things in here and never show her face. When I finally met her, she seemed less than thrilled and a little prickly. However, once we finally got to talking, she seemed pretty chill. I talked to her about my hometown's 'beloved' mayor cum McCain's right hand woman, and now she might think I'm a bit on the insane side. I also didn't know Mysterious Roommate #3's name for several days. All the same, I'm also a fan of Mysterious Roommate #3.

Actually lately, I feel there are too many weird coincidences in my life. I credit the atmosphere.

I know...

Maybe Taiwan's magical! I mean, the big typhoon that hit here when there was a big one back in Houston at the same time and Sarah Palin. Meeting a friend's boyfriend last night who happened to be at the same bar I was the night before.

Now, come on. I'm just playing around here. And we all know that my mind is awfully random. (Well, if you didn't, then I suppose you do now. Cat's out of the bag!) I believe it's my dad's biggest frustration when trying to get a story from me. Okay, now then, enough rambling.

About the weekend now. Yes.

Well, I went out Friday by myself to the 师大 area to explore. I wanted to leave campus and Shida was small enough I wouldn't get lost. It was nice. It started to rain. Luckily I had my handy-dandy umbrella in my purse. When I got bored, I took the bus home only to get off in front of a group of friends going to October Fest. By the time we met up with some other pals, October Fest was over, so we decided to go back to Shida and hang out at the bar.

Yes, my luck in meeting creepy guys still reigns. A very young-looking thirty-one year old man decided he had to play cards with me and my friend. Sadly, I've been out of practice for at least six years and don't remember anything more than war. So I taught him war. Now, I don't say he's creepy for being thirty-one or for playing cards. Yet you can't help but question a person who asks you how old you think he is and then announces he's thirty-one. Not only that, but when he persists in flirting with me even though he knows I'm twenty, I'd say that's sign of him seeing me as potential flesh. Unfortunately, I don't think I gave him the right number, and even if he did, I don't think he has any hopes of talking to Sarah.

I find lots of weird men here like to bother me because I'm foreign-looking. It's really quite creepy to have someone on the street come up to you and begin to greet you in English. I had that happen when I went to Ximending the other weekend. I felt like a patrol of weird, middle-aged men had been stalking the area that day.

Anyways, we had a good time at the bar until about three. Then we felt the need to leave, and thus did so.

I'd barely stumbled into bed Saturday morning before I had to get up again and get ready to go to the gay pride parade. A group of four foreign girls (including myself) went off to Taipei's City Hall and began to wander around the boothes of gathering people. My friends and I bought shirts, and drumroll please... I bought a watch! However, it was so cute, and you know how I am where rainbows are concerned. I'm like a magpie, except rainbows and not silver draws me in. It's really sweet. I might even wear it to class so that I don't have to start getting antsy because I want to know what time it is. Then I wouldn't have to come up with creative ways to read other people's watches.

The four of us. (I forgot to mention I cut my hair!)

Lots of people at the parade were excited by us, and took pictures of us. It was actually how we got the chance to join in with the T&G group and march for about thirty minutes. I think the director was a bit aggravated with us but she still let us. I'm sure there's pictures of me and my friends circulating the internet because of the parade if you're too curious. Anyways, I made a friend with one of the girls, so I felt better about myself that day for being so foreign-looking. Despite the rain, all the parade participants were really pumped up. It was fun to see people just in tight spandex underwear or dressed as spirits or school girls or what have you.

Rainbow flag!

Fun characters

Rainbow Vodka

Unfortunately, we reached the East Underground Mall and had to part ways with our new friends in order to get to the Confucious temple. There wasn't much to report on that since I didn't really understand any of the ceremony. Our teacher had only given us information on Confucious's past, but that doesn't prepare us for understanding the actual ceremonial acts. I have pictures. The temple was really pretty. However, the humidty caused several people to fall ill and even faint.

Pretty Confucious Temple

After that, my friend and I went off with another boy in our program and met the guy's boyfriend. Oh my goodness, this Taiwanese boy goes to 台大, speaks like five languages, and his English is almost fluent. I wouldn't say it was so impressive that his English was good if it weren't for the fact he didn't study abroad to learn it. Anyways, he took us to a Cantonese-style restaurant and a bookstore. I also had him show me the all-you-can-eat cake buffet. We went to the really big bookstore next to Taipei 101 and I bought a book on Hakka and a book on Taiwanese. Now the learning can really begin. I mean, other than 金多虾 and a few other basic phrases, I couldn't do much without a textbook. (You see, a friend and I had one of the program directors teach us 五月天's 金多虾.)

Then I went back and chilled some with new cute little roommate. She's so talkative and she had me help her with Spanish. She apparently thinks my Spanish is rather 厉害. The sad thing is my Spanish background is really weird, and most of the reason I can ever do anything with it is that I know French. Even my pronunciation, according to a friend, sounds like a French person's.

Anyways, today is another typhoon day and so I'll probably just chill at home and do homework. I'll bet you're jealous. Admit it.

A Little Note of Reassurance

Sinlaku did not blow me away, although it did make me a little wet.  It also might have made it a little difficult for people to move in this weekend, but other than that everyone around me has made it through without any serious bumps or bruises.

I did have a nice and boring weekend.  But, it was nice to just relax and chat with friends online--I got to talk to people I haven't talked to in ages.  Then I explored the finer culinary skills of 7-11.  I also did a little homework, but I feel like everything I'm during here pales in comparison to the work I do in Grinnell or Middlebury.  It's almost as if I were on leave.  

However, tomorrow night I'll get to start volunteering with underprivileged children.  And of course, with tomorrow comes a new week of class.  So, that's the story.

Just wanted to make sure you knew I was doing all right.  I'm particularly amused by the fact that Houston also had a hurricane.  

Well, gotta run.  Trash time waits for no man.

Just in case you thought I'd fallen off the face of the Earth...

...I haven't.  In fact, despite last weekend's challenges, I'm still alive and thriving.  To name a few exciting things, I have discovered ice in the middle of Taipei (who would've thought), started class, taken a wrong bus, and had a rock-slide that took out the power.  Then to make matters more interesting, I've celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival and will get the chance to experience my first typhoon this weekend.  Just in time to coincide with stuff going on in Houston.  At least last I knew.  Now you can sit back with a hot mug of something (it just seems more appropriate that way, no?) and read whatever my loopy mind decides to share with you.

Well first off, my good intention of updating was destroyed when I was in class last Friday in the middle of presenting.  Right in the middle of an oh-so-interesting story about a man that bought a bad apartment, the lights went out on me and later my class discovered it was thanks to a rock-slide that damaged the power line.  Well, from there I took off for Shida Nightmarket and hung out by myself until I got a call from someone saying the power wouldn't be on until the following day and not to be scared.  Later, after listening to a group singing on the streets, I then received another phone call from a friend wondering what I was up to.

By the time I'd gotten back, I found a group of CIEE kids outside my dorm.  Well, trying to get information from them was challenging because they'd only tell me the dorm smelled bad and asked what I was going to do for the night.  I couldn't help but be puzzled.  Why would I care if it smelled?  Well, lo and behold there was carbon monoxide inside the dorm from the diesel generators, and we'd been advised to stay elsewhere.

Well, the director hooked us up with a suite at the Holiday Inn.  There were about ten of us in a four-person room, but shh!  Don't tell.  This is our secret.  It was pretty sweet and I managed to walk off with a couple of real black instant coffee packets!  I was also given the pleasure of finding out just what I'd missed out on not going and seeing the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  (If you know me well, at age ten the old one from the seventies had me terrified from getting out of my bed because a crazy man would appear and chop me up with a chainsaw despite the fact that it was broad daylight and my bed was really close to the lightswitch.  The fact that I as child also had a superstition that if you slept with dangling limbs or limbs outside the covers, the limb monster would come and chop them off didn't help either.)  Anyways, the movie was terrible, and just ridiculously gory.  I couldn't help but wince at all the blood and torture.

When the power finally did come on, I was more concerned with getting homework done.  You see, I'd planned to have a boring weekend of studying Bopomo and reading up on school assignments and doing research on Taiwanese and Mandarin.  (Yes, it's well established that I'm a nerd, so deal with it.)

As for class, it's wonderful.  I went down a level.  I am now in 321 with a teacher that's a pink (color, not singer) fan.  My vocabulary and my oral proficiency just aren't quite ready for newspaper class.  I would rather read a newspaper on my own time (and when I feel motivated) than struggle through one for a grade.  I won't lie to you by saying my oral proficiency really has a ways to go yet.  Darn my roommates for not all showing up.  Though I try and force my Malaysian one to talk by just telling her really mundane things about myself.  I figure she can't sit there and be awkward with me forever.

I have class everyday from 12:10-15:00, then I attend CIEE core class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  So far, core class has been a bit of a letdown.  I suppose the problem is that I'm used to being in class with a bunch of really smart kids and having very meaningful and productive discussions; whereas, here we didn't seem to get further than why Chinese has characters and what their significance was.  I was more interested in what we could've discussed based on Taiwan's sociolinguistic makeup.  I suppose that's for me to study myself then.  Hopefully this satisfied you boring folks who find pleasure in knowing my approximate schedule.  It's nothing too thrilling, and I do my best to avoid routine.  God knows I detest routine, thus my absolute opposition towards watches.

Ah, good news!  I know have a Singaporean 阿姨 that I've never seen or met, but it's still exciting.  妹妹她不会生我的气，对吧？  And my 妹妹 is coming for me in December, not to mention another friend from Singapore and hopefully my very special childhood friend who's presence makes everything less pink.

Yes, I know some of you have no idea what I'm talking about, but then you already think I'm insane enough.  We won't add the complications of all my inside jokes and those pet names.  I like to think of myself as incomprehensible.  I'm happy that way.  So you should be happy too.

What else?  A yes, yesterday was moon cake day!  And I do love moon cakes.  So I ate three of them, despite how terrible they are for you.  In addition I had a little vegetarian cookout.  What fun!  I love vegetarian food here.  Too bad it's not always convenient for me.  So much meat here.  And vegetarian food tends to be a little more on the pricey side.  Though, I have a rice balls man.  He knows me and seems amused.  He always knows I want a vegetarian riceball and fills it with all sorts of delights.  

To top it all off, tonight I get to meet up with my teacher from Middlebury.  I can't begin to express how excited I am.  Plus I hope that this coming typhoon won't mess up my weekend plans.  (Some of you know what I'm referring to.  Though, I'm so nervous.  Ah!)

Much love to all of you.  And do feel free to use my Cbox if you don't have an account and hate clicking the extra buttons to leave a comment.  I do read and treasure each person's comment.  On my Cbox, I've been replying.  I always feel weird to make my own comments on a page you see.